Qatar's index eased by 0.3 percent, with Qatar National Bank down 1.5 percent.

Mesaieed Petrochemical plunged by 7.7 percent, having jumped by its 10 percent daily limit in the previous session on news that major shareholder Qatar Petroleum had finished distributing a tranche of free incentive shares to investors, potentially improving liquidity in the stock.

The Abu Dhabi index was also down 0.3 percent, with First Abu Dhabi Bank shedding 0.4 percent. (Reporting by Shakeel Ahmad and Ateeq Shariff in Bengaluru Editing by David Goodman)